Posted Oct 17, 2022 11:46 AMUpdated on Oct 17, 2022 at 9:15 PM
Fiscal stability is not Bercy’s only argument. This Monday morning, the Minister of the Economy gave all the reasons why he opposed increased taxation (from 30% to 35%) on dividends above the average of the last five years. This proposal from the Modem, which sees it as an alternative to the taxation of superprofits, was adopted during the budget review in the National Assembly.
“Let’s stop with these formulas which are deceptions. Superdividends, superprofits, and behind, there is above all the permanent super-taxation ”, launched Bruno Le Maire, on BFMTV. In his view, this measure “is profoundly unfair”, because “the increase in the rate to 35% will affect natural persons, that is to say, for example, an employee who has shares, but not legal persons, a company or a holding company.
Amazon rather than Danone
With the amendment as drafted, the wealthiest people would therefore not be affected because they house their securities in holding companies, we remind Bercy, even if, in reality, this is already the case today , the distinction between private individuals and companies or holding companies also existing with the single flat-rate levy at 30%.
The minister also explained on BFMTV that the measure “only applies to French companies and not to foreign ones”. “This means that the French investor will have an interest in buying Amazon shares – taxed at 30% – rather than Danone or a French group. Jean-Paul Mattei, president of the Modem group in the Assembly, in fact conceded that this point of his amendment could be reviewed.
“If we want industrial sovereignty, we need French shareholders who invest in French companies with a reasonable level of taxation”, hammered Bruno Le Maire, in response to Marine Le Pen on the theme of sovereignty.
Bercy’s last argument: “Companies which have chosen not to pay dividends during the Covid crisis would be very likely to be concerned when those which have paid will be less likely to be because the difference between the amount distributed over the period 2017-2021 and the year 2022 will be less. »
Capital taxation
The amendment defended by Jean-Paul Mattei and voted by 19 Macronist deputies (Renaissance), which aims to “disincentivize the distribution of exceptional results by superdividends and superbuybacks of shares”, could therefore miss its goal.
“I assume my proposal on superdividends, the idea is to feed the debate on the relationship between the taxation of capital and that of work”, reacted the leader of the Modem, who discussed with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and the ministers of Bercy, Bruno Le Maire and Gabriel Attal, in the morning. ” We [le Modem] we are not going to vote for a motion of censure for all that, we remain in the majority”, he continued, while calling for a global reflection on taxation, as was proposed on Friday in the Hemicycle, on inheritance tax.
I assume my proposal on the superdividends, the idea is to feed the debate on the relationship between the taxation of capital and that of work. We are not going to vote for a motion of censure for all that.
Jean-Paul Mattei President of the Modem group at the National Assembly
It should be remembered that the “flat tax” only affects French taxpayers. In this respect, the latest study by the Banque de France on foreign investment shows that the share of non-residents is increasing, with them holding no less than 40.5% of the market capitalization of CAC 40 groups (as of December 31 2021). They also hold a majority stake in the capital of about a third of them. Of all the French companies listed on Euronext, the share of foreign capital is 37.6%. The study does not detail, on the share held by French investors, the distribution between natural persons and legal persons.